Take on the World
by pepperikeys
Summary: After a sudden attack on Bolin and Korra, Bolin talks Mako into attempting to calm the upset Avatar down. Mako tries to explain to the girl that she's not alone just for being the Avatar. A friendship oneshot with a dash of Makorra if you squint.


Take on the World

This is my first attempt at an Avatar fic, oddly enough it's not even out yet. Any who I based the characters on what little info I have and thoughts on what they might be like. So if when the series comes out and they are nothing like how I imagined oh well.

I don't own Avatar nor do I own any of the characters.

Enjoy!

"Korra please calm down!"

Mako was in the middle of his meditation hour when the front door was violently flung open by what seemed to be an injured teenaged girl. Her face and arms were covered in dirt and cuts and one hand was gripping tightly onto her right shoulder. Mako sighed.

_Looks like meditation hour's been cut short for today._

"What were you thinking getting yourself hurt like that?" Korra asked someone angrily. Mako watched as the girl stormed in, followed by none other than his younger brother Bolin. The sturdy earth bender was covered in similar injuries, except for the fact that Mako could see drops of blood glide down the side of his brother's face from some unseen gash hidden within his hair. "I needed to protect you." Bolin said with a firm voice.

One thing Mako was sure of 100% about Korra, was the fact that she absolutely, without a doubt, hated the thought of being protected by someone other than herself.

So, as Mako watched the two, he was not surprised when Korra turned on her heels and marched straight up to his younger brother. "I don't remember asking for your help!" she said, jabbing a stiff finger into his chest. " I don't need anyone's protection and I can take care of myself!" that said, the girl turned and stormed towards her bedroom.

"Korra, wait—"

Bolin followed weakly, trying to stop her. Suddenly she did stop, for a moment, her hand frozen on the door knob.

"After all, I'm the avatar…that's just how it works," she said softly.

Then with a twist of her wrist she turned the handle and stepped into the room before slamming the door closed.

"Fire Rats…" Bolin quietly muttered to himself.

This was rather odd for Mako, watching what just transpired before him. Usually Korra and Bolin were all buddy buddy like; laughing and joking around like the best of friends. And usually it was him in that very spot his brother was now in. They had fallen into some kind of routine where Mako and Korra would argue and Bolin would step in and end up calming the Avatar down one way or another. So obviously there was something wrong with this picture. Mako let out another sigh.

"Bolin," He called calmly.

The younger bender's head snapped in the fire bender's direction in surprise. "Mako?" he asked.

Suddenly his green eyes were filled with a hopeful glow at the sight of his older brother. "Mako!" he cried.

With a burst of energy the earth bender sprung across the room and landed on his knees in front of him, making it so they now sat eye to eye, Mako still positioned in the meditative pose. "Mako, bro!" Bolin exclaimed "You gotta help me!"

"Wait here, I'll get you some bandages." Mako said calmly. He readied himself to stand, but was then stopped by the firm hands of his brother. Golden eyes stared into green and Mako raised a pointed eyebrow in question.

"No no no! I don't need help with that!" He said shaking his head.

"But Bolin, you happen to be bleeding rather badly." Mako said, pointing at his brother's hairline with a pale finger, his eyes following a trail of blood trickle down the side of Bolin's face.

Bolin carelessly waved his hand as if to disregard Mako's observation. "That doesn't matter right now, it's just a flesh wound, I'll take care of it later. Right now I need you to talk some sense into Korra's hard head."

Mako stared at his brother with a slight frown. Talk some sense in to Korra? Was his brother really asking him to talk some sense into that stubborn girl? It was almost impossible even for him to get her to see things clearly. He shook his head and stood up to his full height gracefully. "I'll go get you those bandages," he said before attempting to walk away.

"Broooo!" Bolin whined. "You gotta go talk to her for me. I don't know what to do." He really did look lost, Mako noticed as he glared down at his younger brother.

Lifting the tattered end of his red scarf Mako lazily started to pick at it. "Fine, explain."

Bolin smiled. "Well, me and Korra were out doing some last minute shopping, you see," He began, "When suddenly out of nowhere we were attacked by those wacky Equalists!"

He paused. "Honestly I don't think that even Korra was expecting it…" He frowned in thought. "Anyhoo! So there we were: fighting all awesomely and stuff when I noticed one of the Equalist punks sneaking up on Korra!"

His face turned serious as he seemed to relive the moment again. "So I jumped to action and just pushed her out of the way." He lifted his hand to the gash in his hairline. "I mean sure doing that ended up getting me this nasty gash, but at least Korra was relatively okay." His face softened and he looked slightly guilty but continued. "Although I must have put a bit too much power into that push because now her shoulder's kinda hurt. But you know what I mean!"

Mako nodded, he did understand what his brother was saying. After all he would have done the same thing had it been him instead of Bolin. It's what they do.

Bolin looked up at his older brother, his eyes filled with uncertainty. "I didn't do anything wrong right? That's how we work together! We watch each other's backs!" He smiled "We're a team!"

Mako couldn't help but return his brothers smile. "That's right, we are." Making up his mind, Mako pulled his pant leg from Bolin's grasp and stepped away from his brother.

"Wait here; I'll go speak with her." With that, he moved towards the shelf closest to the bedrooms and pulled out a first aid kit before finally making his way to the young female avatars room.

Bolin placed himself on the cushion that his brother previously inhabited "Good luck." He said with a wave.

Mako smiled at him before opening the door and letting himself into the room, uninvited.

When Mako entered Korra was looking out her window in deep thought. Casually Mako leaned himself against the wall and watched the oblivious girl.

It had been a few months since the three benders joined together and formed a team. Over that short amount of time, he and his brother had noticed many things about the girl standing in front of him. She truly was something else, that's for sure, and not just because she's the avatar.

From the beginning, the two brothers could tell that Korra was very independent and rarely ever relied on others, which honestly wasn't a good thing. Looking back on it now, Mako remembered the time he had ended up arguing with her about it.

The three benders had been walking down the moon lit street in an uncomfortable silence.

Mako ran a slender hand through his jet black hair. They had just finished a pro-bending match—one in which they had lost.

_How in the world did we lose?_ Mako thought to himself. After all, they were undefeated! Well, they as in Bolin, him and their previous water bending partner. But still, he never imagined that having the Avatar on the team would ruin their win streak. _She's the Avatar for crying out loud!_

Mako glanced over at the new addition to the team. The girl was glaring at the road ahead of her. You'd think that having the Avatar on their team would have worked to their advantage. She was, after all, a master bender of all the elements, and a strong one at that. The only element they actually needed her to use was even her natural element! So why exactly are they walking home in defeat?

Mako's eyes hardened as he continued to stare at her. No, this had nothing to do with the girls bending. Even he had to admit it—her bending skills were incredible. No, the problem was something else altogether.

_This is all her fault_. He thought to himself bitterly.

Suddenly, the fire bender stopped walking.

"You do know why we lost this fight, right?" He asked out loud.

Bolin and Korra stopped and turned to look at him.

Placing a single tan hand on her hip, "Obviously, it was because we didn't try hard enough," Korra replied with a shrug.

Mako shook his head. "Wrong." Shifting his eyes to his younger brother he changed tactic. "Bolin, do you have any idea why we ended up losing?" He asked.

The bender paused in thought. "Well… I guess it was because we weren't working together," he said scratching his head. "Is that right?"

"Precisely." The raven haired fire bender said with a nod. "And do you know why that is?" he asked, switching his gaze back to Korra. He watched as she rolled her eyes at him.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell us, all-knowing one," she said, giving him a mocking bow.

_Geeze, she can be so childish sometimes! _Mako couldn't help but think it.

"It's because one of us doesn't know how to work as a team." For a moment Korra looked surprised, only for a moment. She quickly recovered and stomped towards Mako.

"Are you implying that I don't know how to work with others?" She growled out.

"I'm not implying anything," Mako said calmly. "I'm simply stating facts."

"How dare you!" She snapped. "You can't blame this loss on me, I did fabulously!"

Mako rolled his eyes at her reply. "Yeah sure, up until you decided it was a smart idea to take out the last opponent all on your own. I even told you that we'd have a clear chance of winning if we attacked Naru together." Korra opened her mouth in an attempt to argue but Mako quickly interrupted. "Were you even listening when I said that he was going to be the hardest out of the three to defeat?"

Korra's tan cheeks flushed red. "Yeah I heard you, but I just figured that was just you guys…" Disappointment seeped into those crystal blue eyes. "I'm the Avatar…I just thought…"

"Well you thought wrong." Korra's eyes stayed down casted as Mako continued to scold her. "Just because you're the Avatar? That doesn't mean you're invincible to all other benders Korra!" He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Just because you're the Avatar does not mean that you have to take on everything all on your own."

"Mako's right Korra," Bolin said, joining in on the argument. "You're a part of our team now. That means you have to learn to rely on us too. We take care of each other!" Bolin placed a comforting hand on Korra's shoulder and smiled at her.

Mako could tell that his brother was trying to lighten the mood and stop the arguing before it got bad.

He let out a sigh and moved to continue down the road home. "Just try working on it okay." He said quietly as he passed Korra.

Bolin glanced at her one last time before following his brother's lead. "Whatever…" She muttered as she trailed behind them.

The rest of the walk home was silent.

Mako shook his head. It's a shame that apparently things hadn't changed much.

"I see that you still haven't realized the importance of being a team." He stated evenly, breaking the silence in the room.

Surprised, Korra spun around quickly. "What are you doing here?" she asked bitterly.

"Oh, I'm just here to treat your wounds." He ignored her glare and pointed at the first aid kit in his hand as if it were obvious. "Just here to help."

"I don't need your help." He was expecting a reply like that. Typical Korra.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know." He couldn't help but role his eyes at her. "The Avatar needs no help from anyone." He was being sarcastic with her, not caring if his attitude was making her even madder.

"Just take a seat." He said as he casually pushed away from the wall and pointed at the end of her bed.

To Mako's surprise the girl barely made a fuss. She simply released a puff of steam out of her nose before stomping over and taking a seat down on the bed. That was easier then he thought it would be.

Mako's long legs carried him across the room gracefully until he met with the girl where he did he lowered himself to his knees and placed the first aid kit on the ground beside him.

"Let's get started." He said as he opened the box's lid and pulled out different materials looking for a certain object. "Aha." He hummed finally finding the item.

He brought out something like looked like a sling and held it up. "Here, this is for your arm." He said handing it to her. She looked at it then back at him with confusion in her eyes.

He let out another sigh and took the sling back from her. "I don't really know what exactly to do about your shoulder, but I figured this might stop you from moving your arm around and making it worse." He said as he slipped a part of the sling over her head. "Now put your arm here." He helped her move her arm into place and when it was done, nodded his head in satisfaction.

Once again he opened the first aid kit and started pulling out bandages, wipes, and ointments.

"So…" He began as he lightly dabbed some ointment the various shallow cuts on her arm. "Bolin told me what happened."

"Oh did he now?" Korra quietly asked.

"Indeed," Mako stated. His eyes did not meet hers and he seemed to be more focused on cleaning all the cuts and scratches covering the young girl. "But I want to hear your side of the story."

Had he been looking at her, he would have seen the surprise flash in her eyes.

"My side? Are you sure you want to hear my side?" She questioned.

"Isn't that what I just said?" He asked calmly, reaching over to grab a wipe and bringing it to a nasty gash on her knee.

For a moment the girl said nothing, and Mako thought that she would not share her thoughts with him.

"It's my fault Bolin got hurt." She finally said quietly. Mako made a noise and continued to bandage her wounds.

Shaking her head she started over again. "No, it's my fault we were even attacked like that."

Mako looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. "Is that so?"

Korra nodded feverishly, "Yes!" She cried. "I was distracted and wasn't even thinking about possibly getting attacked!"

"Usually I'm always aware," She continued. "But this time it totally slipped my mind."

Mako stopped and watched her as she went on, "I'm the Avatar so I should always expect some kinda surprise attack."

Mako grabbed a clean wipe. "Yeah, so? We're the friends of the Avatar," He said as he brought himself to eye level with the girl. "Don't you think that also means Bolin and I are on alert for an attack too?"

Korra frowned at him. "That's different…"

"Is it now? How is it different?" He stopped her. "Is it because you're the Avatar? The one chosen to bend all four elements? Do you really think you have more responsibilities then the rest of us?"

"Yes!" She snapped. "Yes that's why! It's my job to protect this world! And how can I do that if I can't even protect one of my only friends?" Mako leaned closer to her and dabbed at a bleeding cut on her cheek.

"And now look at me." She said, pulling back slightly and letting out a hiss of pain. "Now I'm angry at myself and letting that anger out on one of my only friends. How horrible."

"Korra," Mako said softly. "Who told you that you had to protect the whole world on your own?" Korra looked at Mako and blue eyes met gold.

"Listen, Bolin and I—we really care about you Korra. We care about your safety and that's why we would do anything to protect you, despite knowing how you don't want it. Because we know that no matter what you say, there will come times where you need it." He finished wiping the blood from the cut and picked up some ointment.

"You're an important addition to our team Korra." He continued. "We just want you to understand that you're not in all this alone. We're here for you, so rely on us." He finished applying the ointment on the cut and gave her a dazzling smile.

Korra's cheeks turned a lovely rose color. "Mako…" She gasped.

The fire bender picked up a small bandage and paused in thought. "What's that thing you always say?" He asked. "It's 'I'm ready to take on the world' right? Right." That said, he gently stuck the bandage to her cheek.

"Did you know, more than one person can take on the world?" He said it in almost a whisper and Korra could only stare at him.

He let his fingers linger a bit longer than necessary on her cheek, then quickly pulled away. "There you go, you're all done." He said as he grabbed the first aid kit and raised himself to his full height.

He made it to the door before he was stopped. "Mako…" He turned around to look at where the soft voice came from.

Still sitting on her bed was Korra, tan fingers tracing the new bandage on her cheek. "Thank you." She said.

Mako nodded. "Come out when you're ready. We will be waiting." With that said, he opened the bedroom door stepped through.

Right away Mako returned the kit to its rightful place in a shelf.

When he returned to were Bolin was he noticed that he brother was all patched up, lazily sitting and happily playing with Pabbo. The fire ferret made a noise at the sight of the bender and Bolin looked up from the animal and smiled at his brother.

"So, how did it go?" He asked happily.

Mako made his way towards the earth bender and his pet. "I guess we will have to wait and see," he said as he sat down.

But they didn't have to wait very long at all. It only took a few minute for Korra to join the brothers.

There they sat, Korra had her head down and the two brothers were looking at her, waiting.

"Look Bolin, I'm really sorry." She finally said. "I didn't mean to take my anger out on you, it was uncalled for."

Bolin let out a loud joyous laugh. "Naww Korra It's fine!"

"Are you sure?" She asked, finally looking up.

"You're sorry right?" Bolin said, his voice serious. Korra energetically nodded her head. "And we're cool right?" Once again she nodded.

"Then all is good!" He exclaimed with a goofy smile.

That was just like his brother, always willing to forgive and forget. Although Mako sometimes got annoyed with Bolin, he was usually more glad that he had Bolin for a brother.

"Just remember, we got each other's backs!" The earth bender said as he got up, grabbing the blue eyed girl and hugging her. "This world—we'll take it on together! The three of us!" Bolin cried while thrusting his fist in the air. Korra's cheeks lit up at that and she glanced quickly towards Mako who couldn't help but let his mouth curve into a smirk.

"Yeah!" Korra let out a laughed and her hand joined Bolin's as she too thrusted hers up.

Mako happily watched his two friends goof off together. Although they all did have their differences, and sometimes got on each other's nerves, he honestly couldn't ask for a better team.

It might take some time for Korra to completely accept Bolin and his ways, but he knows that he and Mako will never leave Korra to deal with things alone. They will always be there for her where ever an whenever. After all, they are a team, and they will take on the world together!

Finished!

So I hope you all enjoyed it! Please do review it and tell me what you think!


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